Coffee production is increasingly being performed using so-called capsule systems. Coffee powder is deposited in a coffee machine packaged in capsules or bags, the capsules are at least partially destroyed, and the powder is dissolved using hot water to deliver the coffee in the desired form and/or type of preparation.
If milk is needed for a cappuccino or latte, for example, it is heated and foamed using hot steam and/or mechanically processed further for foaming if needed. Accordingly, the preparation of milk foam using hot steam is described in manifold publications. For example, the making of a milk foam using hot steam is proposed in EP 0 575 762, EP 1 688 075, WO01/88187, WO2005/074770, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,735,133, 5,611,262, 5,473,972, 6,289,796, and DE4035270. Furthermore, EP 0 919 776 proposes swirling cold milk together with an airstream through a nozzle in order to make a milk foam. The use of additional hot steam is again proposed for the heating.
Finally, EP 1 532 909 proposes a device for making milk foam or milk foam beverages, the milk being driven out of a type of compressible bellows like an accordion through resistance passage elements having a rotationally-adjustable resistance passage disc. The compressible bellows is implemented in two parts, having an air chamber and a chamber containing milk. The rotationally-adjustable resistance passage disc together with the resistance passage elements, which is intended as a reusable part to be cleaned because of the complexity, is part of a coffee machine into which the compressible capsules can be deposited.
Contrary to the coffee preparation, the making of milk foam is complex and, if it is made using hot steam, the milk is partially watered-down by the hot steam and, in addition, the utensils and containers necessary for making the foam are contaminated.
It is an object of the present invention to propose a simplification of the milk processing, in order to handle it appropriately in at least partially foamed form for the production of a cappuccino, a latte, etc., for example, a contamination of apparatus parts such as a coffee machine in particular being prevented as much as possible.
Generalized, it is an object of the present invention to propose a method and a device in order to bring liquid foods into at least partially foamed form in a simple way.
The invention is solved using a method wherein the liquid food is held a container, the method comprising expelling the liquid food from the container and a least partially foaming the liquid food and subsequently discharging the at least partially foamed liquid food without supplying hot water steam, wherein said foaming includes making an at least partially turbulent flow of the liquid food.
It is proposed that the liquid food, which is to be at least partially foamed, is provided in a container, such as a capsule or a bag, the liquid food is heated if necessary while still in the container without supplying hot steam into the container, and is subsequently driven out of the container by making a pressure. The food driven out of the container is introduced into a device in which a turbulent flow is at least partially made, in order to foam the liquid food. Finally, the food is discharged from the container or the device in the desired form for further use, in order to produce a cappuccino, for example.
The expulsion of the liquid from the container may be performed, on the one hand, by compressed air in that compressed air is pressed into the interior through an opening in the container, or in that the container is compressed or a wall is displaced toward the interior. Either a nozzle-type opening may be opened automatically as a result of the compressed air, the opening may be performed by removing a slide, a membrane, etc., or the opening occurs by bursting or shrinking either the opening along a target breakpoint or a diaphragm.
The expelled liquid, which has been heated beforehand using microwaves, infrared, by supplying hot steam to the container, etc., in case of milk for making a cappuccino, for example, is introduced into a suitable device, injected, for example, such as a funnel, a swirling body, a hose-like device, etc., in order to generate a turbulent flow therein for the purpose of foaming. It is important that swirling is made possible using the air present in the device, to at least partially make foam. For this purpose, it is also possible to introduce additional air into the device from the outside, or it may be sucked in automatically because of the flow in the device.
Finally, the foam-like liquid, such as the milk foam, is discharged through a discharge opening, such as a nozzle, in order to make a cappuccino in a coffee cup, for example.
Further preferred embodiment variants of the method according to the invention are described hereinafter.
A configuration is accordingly proposed for making an at least partially foamed food, such as foamed milk in particular. The configuration has at least one container, which is intended for providing the foamed liquid. The container may be such that the liquid may be expelled either by externally supplied compressed air, or the walls are such that they are compressible and/or displaceable inward.
Furthermore, the configuration has a device which is preferably connected to the container, into which the liquid may be injected and/or introduced from the container, and in which a turbulent flow of the liquid may be generated and/or the liquid may be mixed by swirling using air. The device may be like a funnel, may have any type of flow screens, direction reversal screens, constrictions in the flow of the liquid, an external air supply, etc. It is essential that the liquid is foamed by corresponding measures.
According to one embodiment variant, it is possible to connect the container integrally to the device to form a one-part capsule.
Furthermore, the configuration may have a heating assembly, such as a microwave, an infrared assembly, a hot steam generator, etc., in order to heat the liquid in the container before the expulsion into the device. If hot steam is used, it is advantageous if it does not come into contact with the liquid food.
Finally, the container or the device has a discharge opening and/or a discharge nozzle, through which the foamed food, such as the foamed milk, may be expelled.
Preferred embodiment variants of the configuration according to the invention are also disclosed below.
Finally, a coffee machine is proposed having a receptacle, into which the configuration according to the invention and/or the above-mentioned capsule may be introduced, and which has corresponding apparatuses in order to keep the milk, in order to make steam or compressed air, or in order to mechanically compress the container, etc., for example.
The advantage of a coffee machine proposed according to the invention of this type is that the configuration and/or the capsule for making the milk foam may be introduced quasi-autonomously into the coffee machine and may be removed therefrom again after making the milk foam, like the currently known coffee powder capsules or bags cited at the beginning, for example. No parts of the coffee machine are contaminated in any way, the configuration according to the invention may merely be disposed of as a disposable consumable article, for example, composted, if the individual components are manufactured from biologically degradable materials.